Alexa and I were at nearly the same stage of pregnancy when we shot this. There’s a shorthand in that. You don’t have to explain much. We’d timed the session around the moonrise, which had become important to her, and by the time we got to Muir Beach the light was already doing what we needed (soft, overcast, the kind that makes skin glow).
We started on the wet sand, where he watched her the way you watch someone you can’t stop watching. She cradled her belly with both hands while he just stood there looking at her. We moved from the sand to the rocky shoreline and into the redwoods, where dappled sunlight fell across her patterned dress in patches. At some point her husband asked to use my camera to take a photo of the two of us (her and me, both pregnant). Those are some of my favorites from that day.
As golden hour opened up we moved to the water’s edge. She waded knee-deep into the surf. They stood face-to-face on the rocks, his hands on her belly, the bluffs glowing behind them. Then the moon came up. She’d planned for this, asking me weeks before if we could time the shoot around the moonrise. She stood in her black embroidered dress, looking over her shoulder, the full moon just coming up over the ridge.
If you’re expecting and want to shoot at Muir Beach or anywhere in Marin County, I’d love to be there.
